One of the more unlikely football stories popped up on Monday night. As Victoria’s Leader Newspapers revealed, Hull City striker Dean Windass had been in advanced talks with Victorian Premier League club Sunshine Georgies over a guest playing stint.
Even better, Windass would donate his playing services for free out of friendship for former Hull City youth teammate and Georgies coach, Andy O’Dell.
Despite Windass’s stature, the story was yet to hit the national papers or Australia’s football websites late yesterday afternoon.
But the leaking of the story had still spelled trouble for Sunshine and its coach.
Alerted A-League clubs were quickly on the phone to the player’s representatives, and Windass will now arrive in Australia on Sunday night via Perth for talks with the Glory.
Adelaide United – itself in the market for a new striker – is also allegedly interested.
Windass is now aged 40, but scored in the English Premier League for the Tigers as recently as November.
Anyone seeking proof that he still has what it takes need only to feed his name into youtube.com to take in his goal that put Hull in England’s top flight for the first time ever.
That was around a year ago.
Windass spent the latter half of this season on-loan at League 1 outfit Oldham Athletic, but only managed to score once from limited game time.
Still, he certainly fits the profile of Glory coach Dave Mitchell.
Mitchell has shown he is not hesitant about signing players seemingly near their use-by date, with some success.
Veteran Cote de Ivoire striker Eugene Dadi became a fan favourite with thirteen goals, while former Selecao midfielder Amaral showed his class before a hamstring injury cut him down.
That is the risk you take when you sign older players. But Windass – despite his 40 years – has had a relatively unblemished injury record over his career.
And a man of his repute is well worth the punt.
Born in Hull’s Gypsyville area, Windass is as likeable as he is rough around the edges. He’s scored goals wherever his career has taken him: almost 250 goals from around 650 appearances.
Speaking yesterday, O’Dell said he was still hopeful that he’d see Windass in a Georgies shirt, even if talks with the Glory went well.
And every football romantic would love to see the all-action Englishman turn out for the honest VPL club at least once. But here’s also hoping that Windass could stick around for a stint at A-League level.
Despite his age, Windass still has the class – and the personality – to succeed in our domestic game.
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